Reflections on the Foundations of Africa’s Food Systems Transformation

Africa’s agricultural transformation story has always been about more than food production. At its core, it is about livelihoods, economic opportunity, resilience, and the ability of rural communities to participate meaningfully in broader development.

When AGRA was established in 2006, much of the continent’s agricultural system was constrained by structural gaps that limited the productivity and prosperity of smallholder farmers. Across many countries, access to improved seed was limited, soil health had significantly deteriorated, agricultural markets remained fragmented, and support systems for farmers were often weak or underdeveloped.

The challenge was not simply increasing production. It was about building the systems, institutions, and partnerships needed to make agriculture work more effectively for farmers and rural economies.

Over the past two decades, significant progress has been made across several foundational areas of Africa’s food systems. One of the most visible shifts has been within the seed sector.

In the early 2000s, locally driven seed industries across much of Africa were still relatively underdeveloped. Today, African seed companies play a far greater role in producing and distributing improved seed varieties adapted to local conditions and climate realities.

Investments in agricultural research, crop breeding, and scientific capacity have helped accelerate the release of hundreds of improved crop varieties across multiple staple and nutritious crops. This has contributed to stronger productivity potential for farmers across diverse agroecological zones.

At the same time, efforts to strengthen soil health highlighted another critical reality: improved technologies alone cannot deliver sustainable transformation if the underlying productive resource, the soil itself, is degraded. Increasing attention has therefore shifted toward integrated soil fertility management, farmer advisory systems, and approaches that combine productivity with long-term environmental sustainability.

Market access has also emerged as a defining factor in determining whether farming remains subsistence-based or becomes economically viable. Over time, greater focus has been placed on strengthening post-harvest systems, aggregation models, storage infrastructure, and farmer linkages to structured markets and buyers.

The objective has increasingly moved beyond production alone toward helping farmers participate more competitively in value chains. Equally important has been the role of policy, finance, and institutional capacity.

Across the continent, governments, development partners, researchers, and private sector actors have worked to improve enabling environments for agricultural growth through reforms, evidence-based policymaking, and more inclusive financing systems. These systems are capable of reaching underserved farming communities and agribusinesses.

Yet the journey has also reinforced an important lesson: transformation does not happen through isolated interventions. Over time, there has been growing recognition that sustainable agricultural transformation requires stronger coordination across systems, connecting farmers not only to inputs, but also to markets, finance, infrastructure, information, and supportive policy environments.

Increasingly, approaches have evolved toward integrated, market-oriented systems that place farmer resilience, enterprise growth, and long-term sustainability at the centre. This evolution has also reflected broader shifts in Africa’s development priorities.

Climate change, demographic pressures, urbanisation, regional trade integration, and changing food demand are reshaping the continent’s food systems agenda. Agriculture is no longer viewed solely through the lens of production, but also through employment creation, nutrition, environmental sustainability, and economic competitiveness.

Today, conversations around food systems transformation increasingly emphasise the importance of resilient market systems, stronger public-private collaboration, youth participation, climate adaptation, and government capability to coordinate complex agricultural ecosystems. There is also growing recognition that transformation must be rooted in local realities and driven through partnerships that combine public leadership, private sector innovation, research capacity, and community participation.

As Africa continues this journey, one thing remains clear: food systems transformation is not a single intervention or a short-term process. It is a long-term effort of building institutions, strengthening systems, learning continuously, and adapting to changing realities.

The progress made by AGRA over the last two decades offers important lessons, not only on what has worked, but also on the complexity of achieving sustainable and inclusive transformation at scale. The next phase of Africa’s agricultural evolution will likely depend on how effectively countries, institutions, businesses, and communities continue to work together to build systems that are productive, resilient, and capable of creating lasting opportunity for millions of people across the continent.

By Jonathan Said – Vice President, Centre of Technical Expertise, AGRA